But boy, did I enjoy the rampant Fosse homagery (is that a word? because I’ve just decided it is) was a nice touch. (Seriously, for those of you who don’t believe me, this is the original Rich Man’s Frug. Watch. Compare. Be amazed.) Though I will say this — it ain’t Fosse to me without a Fosse walk (the Fosse walk being that way the lead woman walks in the beginning with her hips jutted out and her hands swishing behind her). Get on that, choreographers. I don’t care where you put in a Fosse walk. Hell, you can put a Fosse walk in a Bollywood routine. I just want one, and I want it yesterday.
Jason is another dancer I love (mostly due to those dimples. Oh, the dimples!), but I think he got totally shafted by the choreography he was given. What on earth was that alien impregnation ridiculousness? Dear Brian Friedman – never, ever, ever attempt that kind of tomfoolery unless you are Mia Michaels. Ever. Please. Humanity begs this of you.
One dancer that never fails to cause me endless conflict and soul-wracking is Phillip. On one hand, God, he’s amazing at what he does. His popping is off the wall. And Jeanine is one of the few girls I actually enjoy watching. But (sorry, Universe!) I feel that it is time for Phillip to go. Because while he is an amazing dancer, he isn’t a good all-around dancer, as that heinous tango routine two weeks back proved. I think he’s just gotten lucky that both Jeanine is amazing enough to carry him, and that he got a Napoleon and Tabitha routine which was — wait for it — off the chain. (Badum-ch!) Though both my brother and I agreed (even before Mia Michaels said it, because we’re awesome) — while the chain was cool, the fact that you can’t control the line it makes does push it past genius and more into the territory of “distracting”. But it was a really, amazingly super-cool routine (no surprise, coming from Nap y Tabs), and while I wanted Phillip to be in the bottom three for other weeks, I was surprised that this routine, of all the routines, was the one that sent him there. Karmic retribution for the tango? Who knows.
Okay, so, theoretically, everyone, I do know that Melissa and Ade are amazing dancers. I know they are! I’m impressed by them! But gosh, do I find them boring. And, well, I find ballet boring. I know, I know, this is sacrilege. I’m certainly willing to admit that the ballet was danced and coreographed well, and that it’s an amazing art form, but I find it totally snore-worthy. This may be residual from being the only little girl in the universe that never wanted to be a ballerina (or have a pony/unicorn, or be a fairy princess, unless by that it meant I could have a sword and be best friends with dragons and practice magic instead of waiting around to be rescued, because, uh, lame). But whatever it is, yawn.
And also, a little bit of anger. Look, I know Nigel loves, loves, loves to toot his own horn. Surely you’ve all noticed that he never shuts up about how great and influential the show is, and how they’ve brought all this dance to mainstream America and show every type of dance ever and are the greatest force saving the arts in the universe, blah blah blah. Personally, there are a lot of reasons that assertion makes me want to slap him, but none nearly so much as the fact that there is a flagrant disregard for tap dance. Tap dance! One of the most well-known forms of dance ever! How can it be that in five seasons there have been zero tap routines, no tappers in the top twenty, and only the occasional tapping guest? Can a bitch get some Savion Glover up in this joint? I mean, for realsies, people.
In the end, I’m totally not surprised that the kiss-of-death quickstep with Karla and Vitolio sent them home (though it was quite good, for a quickstep). I did have a brief moment of shining hope that it would be Phillip so he could get back to that girl he auditioned with who was “not his girlfriend” and dance the way he was meant to, but I’m not surprised Vitolio was the one who went home in the end – he’s been hanging around at the bottom for far too long. Basically, if it weren’t for my homegirl Kelly Clarkson performing, that results show would have been a total wash.
I don’t know — I felt this week was a little boring? And I’m not just talking about the girls, but, like, the whole thing. It didn’t really move me. There weren’t dances that either made me want to vomit/cry/curl up in the fetal position (well, okay, the alien one maybe, but not because it was danced poorly), and there weren’t any dances that made me want to rush to YouTube to view them again. So next week, show, I want you to do better. I want spectacle! Pizaz! And though I know you can’t offer me this, because he’s busy directing a movie, I really, really want Adam back judging.
I miss you, my gay, lindy-hopping boyfriend. Please return to me.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Jul 05, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
This week was REALLY boring besides the alien thing.
I have always felt the girls to be less on the show for the most part. The guys, even the worse ones, still have a personality for the most part. However besides a few really good girls each season the rest are just blah and lifeless.
I love this show. I lived with two dancers in my early twenties (33 now) and during that time went and saw a lot of performances (they went to the University and majored in dance). Since then I’ve went and seen some here and there – but not like I did back in the day. I tend enjoy the contemporary type more – anything by Mia and Wade I love. but I really love seeing all kinds of good dancing.
And I appreciate this show so much, cause I do think it brings dance to those who wouldn’t go out and pay money for it. That’s cool. I do agree Nigel is a little high on it. Yeah it would be great to have a tap number, I don’t know why it hasn’t been done.
Here’s the thing with this season (for me) – I haven’t been moved by the pieces like in years past. I mean season 3 had Lacy and Kameron’s “Dancing” by Mia the first week. We also got Wade’s Hummingbird with Hawke and Shane Sparks chairs number with Sabra and Dominic (you know the NeYo song make it work). Neil and Lauren’s amazing piece by Mia (let the drummer kick – the goggles) oh and their hip hop (The Way I Are) and their Wade piece (devil and angel) or and also in the first show of the season Jesus and Sara doing Wade.
Then last year we had so many great dances early on with katie and Joshua (not only their hip hop to Jordon Sparks song but every week bam ) we had Kherington and Twitch’s bed dance by Mia, Mark and Chelsie’s Bleeding Love hip hop oh and damn their piece to the song beautiful by Mia. Courtney and Gev’s contemporary piece (to the song Lost by Anouk)
These where all by this time or by the next couple eliminations. I just haven’t gotten too many numbers where I’m just floored by. I’d say Wade’s number with Kupono. I actually liked Sonja’s piece this week but that may just cause I adore Kupono (why aren’t people voting for him). I did like Jeanine and Phillips hip hop the first week but I agree the chain this week was distracting ( I focused on it too much). But really for me this season has been lackluster. Is it that I’m not feeling the dancers, is it the choreographers not bringing it or how the dancers are dancing the pieces?
I mean Ade and Melissa. Melissa I’m not feeling it totally. Ade in that ballet piece it felt like he just lifted her the entire time . The dance this week with Jason didn’t seem like he had much to do either. And I love Kupono, but his solo this week was week. Don’t gfet me wrong, I’ve enjoyed this season but it’s not grabbing me. Like you said the didn’t move me this week or too much this season
I know I’m rambling but will we remember anything so far from this year. I still watch on youtube (and on my SYTICD tape) Katie and Joshua and the Hometown Glory piece -amazing. I want that. I want something that is amazing every single week
just my thoughts
my wife only watches the show occasionally – she doesn’t like the audition part of any of these shows. Our schedules finally meshed and she got to watch this week’s shows with me on DVR. I had been talking about the beautiful waltz and the really nice dancing so far this season, and she saw this show. The quickstep was one of the better dances performed and both got kicked off! (I know, it was for their entire performances so far and lack of growth, but still. How much of that was to keep up the aura of doom surrounding the “kiss of death” quickstep?).
the alien impregnation? the let’s-not-even-make-rape-a-subtext vampire bit? the ballet piece that even a real ballerina couldn’t make all that interesting? I hope that I can convince her to come back for the next couple of weeks.
and yes, the girls are weaker — there’s none that have captured my fancy like there has been in past seasons. They’re good enough dancers, but there’s a generic quality to them — no real personalities have come through. Imagine if Katee’s friend had made it through — we saw enough of her personality in the past two years to know that she would have been memorable.